Shorewood Citizen Advocates

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Shorewood Resident Calls for Fiscal Sanity

Opinion
Long time Shorewood resident Greg Larson raises concerns about the significant amount of money Shorewood spends for engineering consultants.    This topic will be discussed at a council work session at 6:00 on Monday, Mar. 23, at Shorewood City Hall.

Here We Go Again! Another $7.50M Engineering Cost

cut costs
Based on Shorewood’s 2025 Long Range Financial Plan and 10 Year Capital Improvement Plan , over the next 6 years, the estimated charges from engineering firm Bolton & Menk are projected to total $7.5M.   Or, Shorewood could hire four internal staff engineers and save taxpayers $600k per year.

How Inflating Project Costs and Budgets Impacts Your Taxes

ballooning budget
Millions!   Higher than necessary city taxes, unspent budget dollars, egregious reserves and overestimating projects are all contributors to higher compounding taxes each year.   How?

$540k City Tax You Likely Don’t Know About

Utility bills
If you receive a gas bill from CenterPoint Energy, or electric bill from Xcel Energy you may not know the City of Shorewood has covertly been taking money from you each month for years to increase their revenue.

Shorewood’s Consulting Extravagances

wasting money
Are consulting services worth the time and money when 80%-90% of the recommendations are never implemented and administration, council members and even mayors rotate out every few years?   Cities waste so much money on elaborate consulting ideas that are never implemented.   This needs to stop.

Essential Reading:118% Tax Increase

Tax increase
Shorewood resident Barry Brown has analyzed the Long Range Financial Plan (2026 – 2035) for Shorewood. It shows the Tax Levy skyrocketing from $7.5M in 2025 to $16.4M in 2035 – a 118% increase. Also, the city plans to increase its bond debt by another $21.6M between 2026 and 2031.

Shorewood’s $7M budget

Shorewood’s $7M budget
Every penny spent, whether on paper clips or a snow plow, comes from your fees and taxes. The budget is the city’s financial plan for the anticipated expenses over the next fiscal year.   As a taxpayer, your participation in the budget process can influence the outcome.

5 Things You May Not Know About Shorewood Budgets

Shorewood budget open house
At some point, you may have found yourself in a conversation that you had no idea what the other person was talking about because of acronyms and spurious code words. This could likely be said about technology companies, the stock market, manufacturing, the list goes on.   City finances and budgets are no exception.

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